OverviewGrowth in the developing Europe and Central Asia region is estimated to have slowed to a lower-than-expected 2.4 percent in 2014, from 3.7 percent in 2013. This reflected a sharp contraction in... Show More + Ukraine, spillovers from weakness in Russia and the Euro Area, and slowing capital inflows.Russia’s economy slowed to 0.7 percent in 2014. Tensions with Ukraine, sanctions, and falling crude oil prices interacted with a structural slowdown, although a depreciating ruble and increased public spending supported exports and industrial production in the final quarter of 2014 after a sharp contraction in mid-2014.Capital flight and the loss of access to international capital markets by Russian corporates under sanctions led to over 75 percent depreciation of the ruble against the U.S. dollar between January and mid-December in 2014, despite repeated interest rate hikes and interventions in the currency markets by the central bank.Conflict has taken a severe toll on Ukraine’s economy, with out Show Less -

Climate change poses an undisputable challenge to Central Asian countries now, more than ever. At a time when an annual temperature increase of even 1 or 1.5 degrees can have a significant impact on a... Show More + country’s economy, it has become imperative for the countries in the region to work together on mitigating the effects of climate change. A recent regional conference sought to do just that in Almaty.The Second Central Asia Climate Knowledge Forum brought together civil society organizations (CSOs), and government officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, along with regional educational institutions, universities, and development partner representatives to prepare a forward-looking regional strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Central Asia.The proposed Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Central Asia (CAMP4CA), to be financed by the World Bank and other bilateral and multilateral agencies, aims to strengthen c Show Less -

June 2014 - Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group flagship report which twice yearly examines growth trends for the global economy and how they affect developing countries. The reports include... Show More + three-year forecasts for the global economy and individual developing countries and regions.Europe and Central Asia - OverviewA modest recovery in the developing Europe and Central Asia region remained on track in the first quarter of 2014, despite headwinds from global financial turbulence since late January and the ongoing geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine. Industrial output accelerated to an annualized rate of 12 percent in March in the developing Central and Eastern Europe sub-region, notably Hungary and Romania, helped by rising exports to the Euro Area.In Turkey, industrial output continued to expand in the first three months of the year, helped by strong export growth. But momentum has slowed and weakening business and consumer confidence point to softenin Show Less -

In the decade since then the representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan first met to develop a common platform to learn from one another, this has grown into an annual... Show More + Platform and has spurred the creation of an influential community of practice - spanning more than 20 countries throughout Europe and Central Asia region and beyond. Hundreds of participants - from Albania to South Korea - have benefited from this annual gathering and thousands more have been trained in a variety of public procurement practices. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, all of these beneficiaries now have a vibrant community of practice to draw upon when exploring new developments in public procurement.“We are exploring ways to evolve this annual gathering into a sustainable procurement professional’s network,” says Hiba Tahboub, ECA Regional Procurement Manager.The interest of international organizations in this event has also grown during the second half of the de Show Less -

In Emerging Europe and Central Asia, most countries have done relatively well at increasing the incomes of the bottom 40 percent, which grew by an average of 3.8 percent from 2005 to 2010, faster than... Show More + the income growth of the population overall. Even though these gains proved resilient to the 2008–09 global financial crisis, the region now stands at a crossroads.The crisis that abruptly halted a prolonged period of strong economic growth in the first decade of the century has been followed by a tepid recovery, leaving many economies in Emerging Europe and Central Asia at risk of economic stagnation. Short- to medium-term growth forecasts remain grim, with fiscal austerity measures and stifled investment fueling growing frustration and social unrest – particularly among the young, unemployed, and socially excluded.To prevent past economic gains from being reversed, a better understanding of the interplay between equity and growth is essential for development practitioners, policy makers Show Less -

Natural resources have undeniably been very good for Eurasia, but the region must now ensure that its "blessing" does not become a "curse", as has sometimes happened in Africa and Latin... Show More + America. Despite the recent economic progress, Eurasia continues to face development challenges and there is growing unease about its long-term future. Many leaders in the region are concerned that an over-dependency on natural resources has created a vulnerability to future market fluctuations and a risk of instability. This is especially true for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, the largest hydrocarbon exporters in the region.As a consequence, economic diversification has increasingly been lauded by policy-makers as the solution to reducing Eurasia’s dependency on natural resources – and to safeguarding the region’s long-term development prospects. The policy discourse, however, has often focused heavily on diversification of exports and produc Show Less -

Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Yerbol Orynbaev, commended the work and mentioned plans to create a high-tech science park in Astana in the near future to support the process. “The park envisages... Show More + creation of a belt of corporate research centers, institutes and large high tech companies that will closely cooperate with scientific centers and schools of Nazarbayev University will be created in the near future. Memorandums with giant companies such as Microsoft, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard to create their research centers in the science park have already been signed”, Orynbayev said.Speaking at the TCP workshop, Sebnem Akkaya, World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan said, “One cannot accomplish a transition to an innovation-based economy overnight. And there is no single model of an innovation based development - each country needs to discover its own model.”“The presentations made today by the research groups show clearly that there are success stories in Kazakhstan,” Akkaya said. Show Less -

Economies around the world are adopting a range of policies as they strive to strike a balance between raising tax revenues and encouraging growth, according to Paying Taxes 2014, a new report from the... Show More + World Bank Group and PwC.Paying Taxes is a unique study which investigates and compares tax regimes across 189 economies, ranking them according to the relative ease of paying taxes. The report is intended to be a catalyst for debate among tax authorities, governments and business around issues relating to tax systems and how they can be reformed.The Paying Taxes indicator measures tax systems from the point of view of a domestic company complying with the different tax laws and regulations around the world. The case study company is a small to medium-size manufacturer and retailer, deliberately chosen to ensure that its business can be compared on a like for like basis worldwide.Paying Taxes in Central Asia & Eastern EuropeOn average in 2012 for the Central Asia & Eastern Europe Show Less -

7 November, 2013 - Only 52 out of every 100 working-age people in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are employed currently. And what’s more, up to 60 percent of the unemployed have been searching for... Show More + jobs for more than a year.These figures, among others, underscore the need for countries in the region to implement policy changes that span several sectors, going beyond traditional labor market measures and reforms of regulations, in order to grow the economy while creating more and better jobs, according to a new World Bank report, Getting Back to Work: Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia.Jobs play a central role in people’s lives and are important for the region to achieve shared prosperity, a key goal for the World Bank Group. ECA, much like other regions around the world, suffered after the 2008 economic crisis. Employment and wages fell significantly in most countries, and have not recovered fast enough. So what can be done to create more and better jobs in the region Show Less -

In other words, immigrants’ behavior patterns are not limited by economic motivation alone.Destination countries often transform migrants' social status – but there are ways to get around such situations.For... Show More + example, a person qualified as a doctor may end up working a low- skilled job in a new country out of necessity. Still, this person could continue to pursue former professional activities by providing medical advice to the migrant community members informally, for example.Job placement is crucial for economic integration capacities of immigrant workers. Therefore, organized recruitment continues to feature high on the agenda of policy-makers."Organized recruitment requires joint efforts of sending and receiving countries," said Elena Dunaeva, head of Federal Migration Service office in St. Petersburg. "Pre-departure training programs should be in the domain of a country of origin, while a destination country could ensure job placement through concrete employment Show Less -

Smoking, high blood pressure, and heart disease.While these may be health related issues found the world over, they are of particular focus in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) [1]. For example, rates of tobacco... Show More + use are among the highest in the world. Countries in the region must explore a broad reform agenda to tackle these issues, increase life expectancy and bring the health care system on par with the world, according to a new World Bank Group report.“Getting Better: Improving Health System Outcomes in Europe and Central Asia” explores the development challenges for the heath sector in the region, and highlights three areas of improvement – public health and primary care interventions, financing arrangements, and broader institutional reforms -- to overhaul the health system.The report implemented household surveys in six countries with a focus on health-related behavior and utilization of medical care, a survey on quality of care in five countries, and drew upon existing surveys Show Less -

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are especially vulnerable as the legal process is lengthy and costly, so bankruptcy often is a viable option. An effective insolvency framework can make it easier... Show More + for SMEs to restructure their financial position.As a first stage in the reform process, in early 2012, the Kazakh Parliament passed preliminary amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy aimed at facilitating business rehabilitation. Most of the newly introduced provisions have already produced positive results. “As of January 2013, there are 131 enterprises under rehabilitation, including 56 (43.4 percent)… within the frames of the new legislation. Rehabilitation of 20 enterprises was completed. There are 11,151 jobs saved, and debts in the amount of KZT 1.2 billion have been repaid,” said Nurila Usenova, Chairperson of the Committee for Insolvent Debtors of the Ministry of Finance. For the second phase, the Bank helped draft a new Law on Rehabilitation and Insolvency, con Show Less -

March 11, 2013 – The Silk Road -- if that phrase evokes images of vibrant colors, rich fabrics, dusty, crowded markets, the heady smell of exotic spices, and the promise of adventure and travel to... Show More + far flung cities – well, you are not alone.For centuries, the Silk Road connected the Far East, Middle East, and Europe through a comprehensive network of land and sea routes. Cities emerged at key locations, helping traders travel and sell wares from jewels and fabrics, to perfumes and medicines. In Europe and Asia, particularly, cities evolved as a function of the Silk Road, linking the continents for trade. It later evolved as a product of Soviet planning, where a city’s location was based on transport efficiency, inter-regional equity, defense capacity, and in some cases, to colonize empty territory.The breakup of the Soviet Union, along with the emergence of regional powers such as the European Union, China and India, and the return of the market as society’s driving force, have giv Show Less -

Rapid urbanization and climate change are reshaping and exacerbating disaster risk. Together, they have added urgency to the task of building resilience in communities and countries around the world.Climate... Show More + extremes that we could hardly imagine and cope with every 20 years are going to happen every two years in this century. This is the message of a sobering report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about the dramatic climate extremes that are expected to increase around the world.Meeting on the margins of the World Bank/IMF spring meetings on April 20 to discuss the implications of the report for their work on building resilience, donors, developing countries and international organizations reaffirmed their commitment to making disaster resilience a priority in development planning. The group of leading officials also agreed that integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into the development agenda is critical to building resilience in communiti Show Less -

Impacts of the ScenariosCustoms Union Current: We estimate that, under spring 2011 conditions, Kazakhstan is losing about 0.2% in real income per year as a result of participation in the customs union... Show More + (3). This is due to its increasing its external tariffs to implement the common external tariff, with exceptions, to the levels that prevail in the spring of 2011. As a result of implementing the common external tariff of the customs union with exceptions, the tariffs of Kazakhstan have increased from an average of 6.7% to 11.1% on an unweighted basis (and 5.3% to 9.5% on a trade-weighted basis). We also estimate that collected tariff revenues in Kazakhstan approximately double, that the costs to businesses and consumers of imports increase, and that under the tariff umbrella resources are shifted to areas of inefficient production. Consequently, we estimate that the customs union has depressed real wages by 0.5% and depressed the real return on capital in Kazakhstan by 0.6%. Kazakhstan t Show Less -

During the Q&A session the WB team received encouraging feedback. Overall, CSOs believe that improvements in governance and a stronger voice for civic society are essential to sustainable development.Education... Show More + quality, accessibility and skills are highlighted as key factors in increasing competitiveness and jobs. Among the top areas requiring attention, diagnosis of underlying reasons for poor PISA results, lowering informality in labor market, strengthening vocational education, and providing assistance to disabled youths in secondary schools in rural areas were highlighted.Inefficient business regulatory framework, difficulties in access to finance and slow pace of agricultural modernization and diversification were highlighted as reasons for low competitiveness. The participants suggested that the competitiveness and jobs agenda should accord greater attention to sector and firm specific needs especially in lagging rayons and small towns, and rely more on a feedback from busines Show Less -

The Client Connection website provides real-time information on financial, procurement, and membership resources in a central location as well as documentation on World Bank policies and procedures on... Show More + procurement, financial management and disbursements. In addition to providing relevant country news and economic statistics, the website information is presented at the project and portfolio level for each client. As of the last year, the Client Connection has had over 10,600 users (not including World Bank staff) in over 179 countries. Show Less -

December 9, 2011 - More than a dozen firms vied for contracts on a World Bank-financed transportation project. But that bidding competition largely turned out to be a sham. A Bank investigation revealed... Show More + evidence the contracts were steered to particular vendors in exchange for bribes, kickbacks and payments to designated losing bidders. Ultimately the case was escalated to an independent appeals body – the World Bank Group Sanctions Board. The result: seven firms and one individual were barred from World Bank contracts, two permanently – the strongest possible action.While a press release announced the debarments, virtually nothing was published then about the evidence or deliberations in the case – one of the most egregious that have come before the Sanctions Board – or in similar cases involving errant contractors. As the World Bank marks Anti-corruption Day on December 9, that’s about to change.Under new procedures promoting greater transparency and accountability, the Sanctions Boar Show Less -

Mid-term results of the “Health Sector Technology Transfer and Institutional Reform” project were discussed at a high-level round table in Astana. The event was attended by members of Parliament,... Show More + Minister of Health Salidat Kairbekova, World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan Sebnem Akkaya, representatives of WHO, UNICEF, USAID, CDC, representatives of oblast health authorities, health sector organizations, including medical universities, governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The event was a conclusion of the two-week mid-term review conducted jointly by the Ministry of Health and World Bank experts. The results and recommendations on each project component have been discussed within a series of workshops and consultations held from November 1 through 8, 2011. This comprehensive five-year project launched in Kazakhstan in 2008 deals with all aspects of health sector reform, including health financing and budgeting, health care quality improvement, reform of med Show Less -

Adds World Bank Climate Change Envoy Andrew Steer: "This Climate Change Knowledge Portal enables ministers, development institutions, and non-governmental organizations in developing countries to... Show More + see within minutes what’s going to happen 30 or 40 years from now, based on the best scientific modeling that exists in the world. It’s a great tool for opening up discussion on the issues."Opening Climate Data ‘Increasingly Critical’In the past, a wealth of raw data on climate has been under-used, often ending up as static PDFs or on specialists’ hard drives. The new Climate Portal aims to make it easier to access and use climate information from various sources, including the Bank’s open data catalogue."Opening climate data will encourage experts and innovators, wherever they may be, to come up with new tools for analyzing and managing the effects of climate change,” says Shaida Badiee, director of the Bank’s Development Data Group. “The combination of open data and innovative Show Less -